Africa Business News

A US court has convicted a Mozambican former finance minister over a 10-year-old conspiracy that triggered the worst economic crisis in his home country since independence. Manuel Chang was found guilty of accepting pay-offs through US banks for approving secret loans which were intended to pay for a fleet of tuna fishing ships and other projects, leading to the affair being dubbed the "tuna bond" scandal. But the loans were plundered, leaving Mozambique $2bn (£1.5bn) in debt. Chang was arrested in South Africa in 2018, and extradited to the US the following year to face fraud and money-laundering charges. Ten other people have been imprisoned in Mozambique over the scandal, including the son of then-President Armando Guebuza.